Women’s 4x1600m Sets Program Mark At Drake

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Iowa State women’s 4x1600-meter relay squad of Bethanie Brown, Ejiro Okoro, Katy Moen and Crystal Nelson notched a second-place finish in the afternoon session. The team posted the fastest time in program history, crossing the line in 19:13.62.

Brown started things off for the Cyclones and was forced to work from behind after getting boxed in towards the back of the pack. The Cyclone freshman picked off her competitors and handed off the baton in third place. Okoro, making her outdoor debut, took the second leg and briefly fell to fifth towards the middle of her stretch. The two-time All-American used a strong kick over the final 200 meters of her leg to lift the Cyclones into second at the race’s halfway point. Running third, Moen kept the team in second, keeping pace with the lead-squad, Washington. Nelson anchored the relay, running the fastest split of the four Iowa Staters, clocking in at 4:45.50 over the final 1,600m. Nelson was unable to catch Washington’s Katie Flood, but kept the team on record pace as she crossed the line.

All four Iowa Staters posted sub-4:50 splits in the historic effort. The team broke the previous mark of 19:14.80 by 1.18 seconds, which was set in 2010 by Semehar Tesfaye, Lisa Koll (Uhl), Ines Fischer, and Erin Penticoff.

Bree Woelber lifted her name up a slot on the leaderboard on Day 2 of the heptathlon. Woelber finished ninth overall in the event, setting a personal record in overall total score at 4,746 points. Her final tally ranks third on Iowa State’s all-time list. The Pipestone, Minn., native achieved the mark behind three top-10 finishes in the long jump (9th), javelin (6th) and 800m (9th) and a personal record of 14.44 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles.

In the men’s 10,000-meter run, Tyler Jermann notched a time of 30:26.21. The night marked his first 10K on the track. Trent Lusignan took the individual title in 29:55.69. In the women's 5,000m, Taylor McDowell notched a personal record at 16:51.99, marking the Cyclone's first time breaking the 17-minute barrier in the event.